Corporate Woman

Red and I went to find Stasia, the mage whip for Flint, she was right where we thought she’d be…a bar

we went in and found her pretty quick, things seemed to go pretty well until we realized while I’d gotten Stasia a drink she’d mind jobed Red to tell her the whole truth…which, kinda pissed about, but that said Stasia actually seemed ok with the whole thing…sooo, maybe a good thing? We were on the way to take Stasia back to Detroit with us and she started to use a spell on herself…Red wasn’t on board with it and countered the spell, which pissed Stasia the hell off…sigh. It ended up in a fight with zombies while Stasia tried to escape. Red was able to block the escape and I took care of the zombies for the most part. I somehow managed to talk Stasia down…maybe drugged up people understand me? That’s not encouraging. Regardless, it seemed to work and she decided to come back to Detroit with us…again. The brothers stayed behind for us to help watch out for Hollis until Bedlam opens, guess it would have looked suspicious for Hollis to just follow us back to Detroit. Not sure I agree with that, but all the same, better safe than sorry….pretty sure that’s the first time that phrase has left my mouth….

Harrison was also kind enough to teach Trystan how to train non-wolves on certain wolf abilities…which should be damn useful with the pack that we have, pretty stoked about this actually. And before we left for Detroit Conor kinda dropped a bomb on me…turns out he visits another dimension where he and are are human and together, and have a ranch. That’s simultaneous sweet and kinda fucking devastating. I can’t change what’s happened, I can’t change the way my heart feels about Trystan, fuck, I can’t even say the words he probably needs to hear out loud…but I can buy a goddamn ranch and name that piece of land Hollis Hills.

talking with Stasia on the way back to Detroit in the squirrel she gave us some intel on the Prisci, which, damn thankful for as it’s more info than we had before. Not sure if the brothers held out on us or just didn’t know this shit? Or maybe we just didn’t ask so they didn’t tell. Although, that is sure as hell NOT the attitude I’d expect from pack mates…even if they are temporary mates.

I had Prescott coordinate buying the ranch for me, had Lydia bamf me over so I could change the sign “Hollis Hills”, told the guy living there he could stay as long as he kept the place up for me and was scarse when I wanted to visit, sent Conor a text with a picture of the ranch “hey, bought this, thought we could go sometime”. He immediately called me and wanted to visit…guess it was a good idea? Red was cool about me ditching her for a bit and Conor and I went to the ranch…Conor was…a bit more, … intense, than he used to be…thinking the Nos thing is the reason, but it still didn’t scare me like it would have even a couple years ago. I was never able to let him have control of the whole intimate thing before , but even though he was more aggressive, more rough, I wasn’t freaked out. I’m not sure if it’s because Trystan kinda helped heal that or if it’s because I’m just different now…did the suits change that? Honestly, I don’t even care which, I’m just glad that fear is gone. Maybe that’s why I care so much about Trystan too? Despite having talked to both boys about the whole situation I can’t help but feel like it’s too good to last and gonna blow up in my face.

Red and I went to chat with Conor, and honestly I forgot what about, Lucy was there…and my brain just went to “oh shit tell him about the club before she does”…pretty sure he already knew though…he had that disappointed and slightly pissed look, fuck, but we talked a bit and he seems to be ok with it, or he’s just a baller liar…which is possible, but annoying if he’s lying to me. Conor plans on taking care of Lucy’s tattoos and that reminded me I had wanted to get some…I mentioned it and Conor didn’t say anything or offer so I’m guessing that’s a no go area for whatever reason. That’s fine I’ll have Jean take care of it, maybe it’s better if pack handles it anyway.

Between Gabe and I we finally convinced Mac she needs some ghouls of her own so she can have some folks to divvy stuff too. Plus, it just feels better to have some control of a dominion separate from the pack and from the Corporation…and with her and Ben, I’m not 100% sure what’s going on there, but seems like she could use some control on something, I know I did, so hopefully it will help her too. She had Prescott look up some good candidates and we tracked down a security firm. Red ghouled Killian and Shaw and I took Silvain. Turns out the firm knows Gabe—whelp, no one can say that Prescott isn’t good. Gabe put his stamp of approval on the new boys so now I’m even more inclined to trust that they’ll have our back. Prescott needs a raise.

we put the new ghouls to work in the bedlam building for the club opening, I gave mine specific instructions to keep careful watch on Lucy. I know Conor has taken measures to make sure she’s protected, but I just can’t leave it alone. Red and I also chatted with David, asked him to be our Master of Elysium for Bedlam since he basically is already…we were just making if official. He was pleased, but I could tell he was also kinda thinking “about goddam time”. Cut us some slack guy we’re fucking newbs…not that he knows that.

After getting some of Detroit shit sorted out for the club opening Red and I headed to Flint, we chatted with their Court and proposed combining the courts so they’d have a bigger stake…fucking glad Conor and Atticus pushed us towards that…it pretty much immediately turned the tides. Yeah they’re leery of us, but at least they’re willing to play ball now. Jesus I’m glad we have a diverse pack…Noah was right, this shit is easier when the different supers work together…seriously. Conor announced to the Flint court that he was taking Primogen for the Nos…he’s told Red earlier that he wanted to be more involved in the shit I care about, what’s important to me. Honestly, that kinda surprised me…I wasn’t really sure where we’d left things, our communication style isn’t exactly clear…but that…that tells me he’s trying for this to work, trying to have this be a long haul kinda thing. We invited the Flint court to the Bedlam opening…they seemed eager, a bit too eager so that worries me, but thankfully it will be on our own turf so that’s something at least.

I can already tell who I’m gonna like in Flint and who I’m not. Linc, the Mehket, had our back…flat lied to the court about the brother’s involvement. That bought him mad respect from me and I’ll make sure to remember it should he need anything in return. Artemus, the Daeva, …bit of a dick….tried to set up the Flint Sheriff Hollis for Seneschal which would have implicated him for killing the Prince. Not a good move on Artemus’ part…I like Hollis, he’s actually an honorable guy and I’ll kill on his behalf…so yeah, not the best play Artemus could have made. But sure little Daeva, you want to do politics…I’ve got just the outfit for that.

learned some interesting shit while we were out with Conor going to and from Flint…turns out we’re descendants of Shadow…which is fucking scary, but explains a lot. Shadow also sired Red’s father after he was already dead, which…well, turned her old man into a Revenant…if it was Gabe…I’m not sure if I’d be pissed or glad he did it…yeah I am, Gabe in any form is better than no Gabe. We’ll just have to figure out how to help the old man keep or get back his sanity. Honestly, let’s be real…not gonna be the hardest thing on our to-do list. Also learned that Conor can pull the scary mutherfucker off just as well as the Prince, he just hides it from us. Not happy about being afraid of him…reminds me too much of my old man…and I never want to associate the two of them…ever. Got to figure something out there, magic item or tattoo…whatever it may be, need to head to the market for this asap. I still have that artifact that Jean made so at least I got something to trade for at the market to try and find a way around this.

Felt a little guilty, meeting with Ben while Beks did the Herald thing with Gabe and welcomed our assassins into the city, but I’ve sidelined Ben far too often after dragging him into this mess. Thought I owed him an apology for that, apparently not though… he was way too fucking chill. I don’t know what I expected, Ben has always been overly tolerant of my whims, but I thought he’d be at least a little pissed or worried or disappointed or something. I fucking would have been. It’s not like I make it a habit of standing him up without so much as a phone call. Shit. I understand that he has got a lot on his plate too, adjusting to not only the vamp thing but also the constant scary companion thing, in addition to assisting Braden with all of the pies he’s got his damn fingers in. I feel like a bitch wanting to demand even more from him, shit.

At least I can stop feeling so guilty about the attack n Billy’s funeral. If Dupont was telling the truth then that was down to my father, his ambitions for the family causing him to piss off everyone apparently, including the Boston kindred. He claims he was after Ben in the first place and knew nothing about Bek and I. It really doesn’t add up though. If the target was Ben, or even all the higher ups in the family, it seems completely unnecessary to hire the “vampire boogieman” to go after mere humans. Seems like fucking overkill. Expensive overkill. There has got to be something else behind it. Make’s me wonder, not for the first time, when my father was changed and what Nos was the kind of crazy to think that it was a good idea?

These are questions that I’ll have to ask him when we pull him out of torpor. Shit. I really don’t know what to do with him. He’s just too damn dangerous to let loose… for the time being he will hold in the Coliseum while we deal with more imminent concerns.

It seems that the “Purity” group that has been attacking us is a farce, whoever is really behind it is hoping to destroy us by bringing us into conflict with the real Purity which, according to Edward and William, is one of the most powerful kindred groups in the world. Their idea that Purity is peaceful and more interested in knowledge has been contradicted by Dupont. Speaking of which I was surprised that Prince of New York was willing to potentially make an enemy of Dupont on our behalf. We’ll have to be sure and return the favor and let him know that he was correct in thinking that Dupont wouldn’t have attacked us had he known we were Detroit’s heralds.

We should also be sure to apprise our Sheriff of this information. We also need to see how Takashi feels about fulfilling the NY Prince’s request for him to have a “chat” with Edward.

In the meantime, we’ve got to go to Flint tomorrow evening, the court is convening. Not only is their Prince “missing”, but every single Primogen as well… good to know the Prince is thorough when he wants something…

Gabe and I met the Assassin group as they were heading into the Bedlam building, told them Red and I were Harolds and gave them the city rule app, told them they could stay at the Bedlam place but all the vamps make them a bit jumpy—which I totally get, so offered up Lydia’s services in helping to get their place up to bar. Also got David to buy the real estate they wanted for their new building. Made sure to tell them about Isahia…granted Red and I botched that whole situation fucking royally but maybe we can somehow make it up to him…what’s the protocol for “hey sorry we basically got you killed”… roses? fuck. Honestly, sometimes I wonder why the fuck Noah picked us. I get that we were genetic matches, but seriously….sometimes I think he must believe he made a mistake with us.

Red and I teleported to New York to finally chat with the NYC Prince. As was the last time, really enjoyed their company, pretty glad we’re…what? political friends? what’s the term…I’m pretty damn sure that the NYC Prince doesn’t actually consider us “friends” so I don’t want to offend him somehow and accidently say that to him it would ruin shit. I just don’t 100% get vamp politics yet…I seem to have no problem with Were politics or hell even the Gangrels I can figure out…but Ventrues and Daevas and the like…yeah, I feel outta water when I deal with them. Thankfully though the Mage suit actually makes me feel less like a fuck up with I handle that type of shit. Kinda strange. I mean, don’t get me wrong, I like that each suit kinda has its specialty…I wouldn’t want 7 of the same dress in my closet right (not that I actually own 7 dresses), but you get what I mean. But the whole Mage suit…I don’t know, I expected it to feel a lot more weird, a lot more out of body that I thought it would. Maybe Conor was right on all this, maybe we are meant to be this.

After getting back from NYC I called David to get him on board for handling the Assassins’ new real estate, snagging up an airfield (since we invited the NYC Prince to the Colosseum opening) and to ask how the club was coming for the party. Sounds like we’re almost ready which is good…although he mentioned that Braden has been “integral” in helping get things around…goddammit……makes me wonder if I should expect something to fuck up the opening night, I know I’m supposed to keep an open mind about the whole turn Ben into a diablarist thing…but seriously, I don’t know…when you sleep with a guy…I just kinda thought even if it didn’t go anywhere relationship wise that we’d at least be friends out of it. Guess that was pretty naive on my part, but he seemed kinda above petty shit….and now I just don’t trust him. He hasn’t spoken to me or looked me up since that night in the club. Guess he got what he wanted and then he was done. Not gonna lie, kinda stings.

After our chat with David, Red and I let out Quincy…who was weird and “need to go” so we followed him, he found his way to Shadow who had fed on him and then left…not much we can do since he’s bound to Shadow. I’d be pretty pissed if someone messed with Alaric so I get it. We head inside to chat with Shadow—we haven’t seen him in awhile and it good for us to keep him reminded of us, somehow I feel like that means he’s less likely to murder the northern hemisphere. Conor was there, with some girl, and he was hurt. Shadow healed him and then just took off.

I can see that he’s healed so my worry is sated there, so I can’t help myself when I blurt out “are you with her!?”…usually I can stop that shit, but not with Conor, with him it just bubbles up and out…not sure why, but I just know I my filter is fucking broken around him. As soon as he has that corner mouth smirk at my question I know they aren’t together. Turns out he made Eve, turns out she’s the reason in the future we stop talking or seeing each other or whatever. Conor said I was against creating supers and because of some rule Shadow has for Conor, creating supers is like the only way he can….procreate or have kids or whatever. Red and Eve head to the kitchen to give Conor and I some privacy.

I tell Conor I’m still against making supers, I think it’s a shit awful idea, but I care about him and I’m not gonna just turn my back on him because of something he does that I think is stupid. Guess I was a bitch in the future if that’s what I did. Regardless of how stupid of an idea I think it is, doesn’t mean I don’t care for Conor. He seems to get that. With everything that’s gone on I know I need to give him the letter…make sure if something does happen he knows. I realize things are different with him, different with us, but he’s still Conor…even if he’s changed, even if he’s different…underneath all that it’s still him and he has a right to know that I fucked things up, that it wasn’t him, that he was great. Especially now that future bitch me fucks things up with him…now more than ever he needs to know in case something happens and I never get to tell him. So I give him the letter. And almost instantly I’m fucking regretting it. He has a little intake of breath at the end part and I can just feel him recoil from it. I guess at least now I know, no wondering, whatever he felt for me I somehow ruined. Can’t say I don’t deserve it. Leaving the way I did….I was fucked up, things were fucked up, I wasn’t ok. But to take it out on such a good guy. Goddammit, it’s my fault there’s this fucking wedge there. Conor asked me about Trystan and I wasn’t going to lie, I told him Trystan and I were together, I couldn’t not be with him and I realized that made me a hypocritical bitch, but that I couldn’t just turn off that I cared about him. Told him I care about them both and I’m sorry if that’s unfair, it just is what it is. Conor said he didn’t think this was going to work…he slid a box on the table, with a ring it, said he’d gotten it for me before I’d left, but that it didn’t matter now….he said a few other things to, but my brain kinda kicked off after that first part. I couldn’t lie to him, couldn’t lie to Trystan…but didn’t mean hearing that I’d lost him for good wasn’t the most painful thing that’s happened to me, that shit ranks up there with Gabe almost dieing. I blanked on most of the conversation after that and just shut down I guess. I took the ring, maybe that was stupid, but I wanted something tangible to cling to. After a minute or hell could have been 30 min Red and Eve came back in. We were set to leave when Conor stepped to me and kissed me. Was this a goodbye? I wasn’t sure, but I wasn’t going to regret not having at least that one last kiss. Even if he’s changed, even if he’s different…he still tasted like Conor and that one kiss reminded me of all the others. He told me he’s always loved me and I asked if that was enough, he said it had to be and then left. What. The. Fuck. Does. That. Mean. Come on. I just don’t know with him. Never been able to see through him like I do others. He just always saw through me. And now I get to stew on that shit. Wonder if he knows how much this guts me.

Red and I headed to Yaksha and Atticus…turns out Dickponte has Red’s father and we’ve got to see about that before the grand opening. Lydia teleported the 4 of us to some cabin in the woods bullshit that Dickponte had set up…turns out he set it up to blow too…fucking ass. This is Mac’s father we’re talking about here so she did most of the talking and decided on our course of action. Turns out that Dickponte made a mistake, you fucking think buddy! and didn’t realize we were kindred court, he wanted to apologize and offered info on purity or rather fake purity, Red seems content to cut our losses and just wash this under the bridge, gotta say, being in my wold suit on this sure makes it hard not to eat the mutherfucker. So Dickponte isn’t allowed in our city, but we aren’t gonna blood hunt his bitch ass for the shit he pulled. Two things: 1. need to remember to tell NYC Prince he was right about Dickponte and to not shoot himself in the political foot and allow him in his city and 2. if that goddamn mutherfucking piece of shit comes near my guys again…I’ll eat his heart

Red and I approached the tower to see if we could help Raziel’s buddies, several shadow things were out front and attacked us, thankfully we had our …shit, disattached souls? not sure how else to put it, there to help us…I can’t really hit for shit with my assassin suit, but with the vamp armor I could take a punch and courtesy of my wolf and geist it was only a matter of time before the shadows were taken care of. Red put hers down a bit faster, but at the cost of her wolf, who was knocked out. Thankfully no one took permanent or serious damage and we made our way into the tower

and we climbed and climbed and fucking climbed for hours….seriously, fuck that…almost went back down thinking that magic had gotten us stuck somehow, but we finally came to a clock thing with a suspended bridge running across in front of it…fuck me…someone’s gonna fall off that bridge, there was also name written all over. Red and I tried everything we could think of to write our names in the stone…because seriously it’s a tower with names, even if it’s just grafitti still gonna put our names there just in fucking case

Red and I investigated and started to cross the bridge when a huge scary fuck showed up on the side we had just come from…taunting us…not sure if he intended to bust down the bridge with the huge ass hammer of his, but he pointed it at us in challenge…well, at least he’s going to be civil about it

shit was weird during the fight and I could see name written all over the stone golem guy, no clue what it meant, I disarmed him a couple times and he didn’t fight back too much…just taunted us by saying he was going to kill us….and after one hit…yeah, he’s not fucking lying. Red started trying to talk to him, seemed more like she was talking to herself and then he just smashed her into red pudding with his hammer….well, real glad we sent the letters…I commented on what a chicken shit he was to not fight without a weapon just hand to hand and he dropped his hammer and walked up to me. I got one punch in, literally broke every bone in my hand and a couple in my arm before he crushed by nose and skull with his fist. Thankfully the blow was quick enough all I remember was my vision fading to black and a sense of pressure.

and then…then I woke up in my fucking bed. I scream for Gabe and shoot out of my room to figure out what the fuck is going on. Red’s hollering to and I know it’s not a coincidence that we’re both pitching a fit…clearly we’ve had the same “dream” and shit isn’t right. We get Prescott and the pack around and tell them what happened. Prescott suggests that we confirm if this actually happened and King speaks up and says he actually knows who Yaksha is…so we track her down and do what we do…which is recruit people who are way more powerful and badass than us and could probably be joining to just cause shit, but hey, why stop now…so Yaksha is part of the group. And, she’s actually kinda nice so here’s hoping she isn’t a spy/traitor/member of the Pure/etc/etc.

Red and I intercepted the letters we gave Yaksha, she had to rewrite them because turns out we were legit in a “dream”, the team thinks we were being called by a tower, but failed the test…I guess that makes sense…except it sure as fuck didn’t feel like a test…some guy threatens me with a hammer…just one thing to do.

Red and I chatted briefly with Armanstead and Constantine for our “review”…which at this point I think is just fucking insulting. I mean seriously we’ve given 100% to this group…it’s not an “organization” anymore, it’s our lives and to be evaluated like kindergardeners with finger paintings…well, it really pissed me off. To top it off they were trying to split up the pack for efficiency….yeah, I get you, but this isn’t just about increasing productivity and getting the most bang for the corporation’s investment, this is literally our lives now. This pack is our family, this corporation is our home…and quite frankly fucking with it pissed me off…a lot. Needless to say we pushed back enough that Constantine just gave up, smart man. I made a smart comment about them being nothing but an empty building and Constantine actually stayed with Red and I to chill a minute. Had a drink and talked. I’m impressed he listened instead of pop me one over my comment. He also told Red and I why the Corporation and it’s mission was so important to Armanstead….and fuck me, I understand that demon bastard just a bit more and gotta say…I didn’t give him enough credit. Not that I’m going to admit that shit to his face, like ever.

Bek and I were “pulled” by a supernatural force that was trying to get us to the Aether but we got stuck in between. Possibly due to a complication caused by our “suits”? Might be worth looking in to though not really sure how to safely go about that… Maybe I would understand better if I had ever been a mage. …I’m only half kidding with that comment, sorry.

We have zero access to our supernatural selves right now at any rate. We are completely reliant on our new friend Yaksha. I imagine you’ve heard of her as she’s met the Prince before and survived, I have a strong suspicion as to what she is myself… She has been kind enough to deliver a few letters, as well as our possessions, to HQ for us. It seems that even though she’s an expert at opening doors she can’t take as backward only propel us forward, possibly right in to a trap to whoever or whatever wanted us in the Aether in the first place.

We all spoke to someone, a renegade creature from the Aether, who resides in Yaksha’s library. According to him something terrible must have happened there as he has lost his connection to it. Also, Yaksha captured a Shade in the Between and it seems to have been “pulled” there from the Aether around the same time we got “pulled” from this world. Too coincidental not to be connected.

Yaksha seems to be full of confidence that we can survive what ever is waiting for us on the other side and find our way back. I’m not sure where she’s getting her intel from, but if our other selves penchant for getting themselves killed is anything to go by… well, If we don’t make it back, I’m sorry we didn’t ever make it to that baseball game. Apologies for fucking it up.

Mack

Ben,

God. I wish I didn’t see the need to write this, but I’m not feeling optimistic about my chances of making it back to you. Bek and I have really gotten ourselves in a fuck of a situation. Got sucked in to another dimension or something… not anything we could have really planned for, so nobody’s fault, but no going back now.

Don’t think this letter means that I’ve completely given up though. I promise I will fight tooth and nail to get back to you, I think I owe us both that much. Also, our new friend who delivered this letter seems to think we can make it. But… just in case the worst does happen, I want to make sure that you know how much you mean to me. How much you have always meant to me. You have been, and always will be, home. Whenever family is mentioned the first person I think of is always you. I love you. No matter what happens, no matter who we have been, or who we become that will never change.

I would not have survived what happened all of those years ago, or had the strength to leave, without you there supporting me. My one biggest regret is that I didn’t fight harder to convince you to leave with me. Even though it has always been my intention to protect you and keep you safe it has only ever gone the other way around. Honestly, after all of the shit situations I’ve gotten you in to I don’t know why you still put up with me. (Are you secretly a masochist or have you just got a hero complex? It makes a girl worry.) But in all seriousness, be happy, Ben. No matter what. That is my selfish wish for you.

Red and I talked more with the Assassin cell, they’re clearly good people…I’ve been thinking that #1 making a deal at the market is gonna cost us big time and #2 we’re gonna end up pissing them off…a lot…by side blinding them and manipulating them like the godmachine. I mean shit, if we forge their transfer we’re no better than the godmachine. I kinda want to take the honest approach to this shit even if it’s more risky. Even if they decide to tell us to go fuck ourselves maybe they’ll at least like us enough to leave town…you know, each go their own way. Gabe seemed on board with the plan, but quite frankly I think it’s just because he’s impatient as fuck and didn’t want to wait for the market. Red was also on board so Gabe coordinated with Havoc and the Pack to chat with the group.

I switched suits to the vamp suit on the way there while Red drove us to our “neutral meeting area” so they could see that the extremes can work together…we’ll have Trystan there.

Things seemed to go pretty well? Either that or their poker faces are top fucking notch. The assassins all seemed to process all that we had to say really well and left so they could talk things over as a group. So it either went really well…or really bad. Not sure yet.

Red and I went back to the Corporation to talk to Conor…we need to check on the Gangrel in the Colesseum cell and ask if he’s blood bound to the Prince if he’s safe….riding the elevator up to Conor’s floor was…weird and when we got to his office there was some langalier shit going on…literally no one was in our building….needless to say although it was weird Red and I were kids in a candy store and went and touched all the things the grown ups told us not to…but we quickly realized something was fucked up and went looking for answers as we’re back in our human suits and can’t change back…not cool

browsing the streets of Detroit it looks like the humans are all still here, but no supers that we can find…although it is the day…we did see one super, a chick…hunting a shadow thing…weird shit = home, so Red and I went and talked with her. She was…uhhh, interesting, and seemed like she was maybe the original of something, beast maybe? She told us her name was Yaksha and offered to help us research what was going on. Yaksha took us back to her place, she’s got a city that’s literally a library..ohhhh if Noah could see…and discovered that we were “stuck” somehow between worlds. She could tell we were being pulled into the Aether but didn’t quite make it, due to some magic, goddamn magic, she can’t open the door back to our own world, instead she can only open the door to the place we were going…the Aether. Well, guess forward is better than nothing as we’d be stuck here in the “in between” permanently which isn’t gonna happen so Red and I said why the hell not and opted to head to the Aether. And as this is likely going to be a one way trip Yaksha agreed to take messages and our things back to the Corporate building for us. I wrote Gabe, Conor and Trystan a note and tucked that in with my stuff. I put Trystan’s inside the sheath of his knife and wrapped Gabe’s and Conor’s with their dog tags. Not sure if this is “it” or not, but I can’t let them think they were less important to me than they are if something happens…they deserve better than that

once we crossed over the door that Yaksha opened we were dumped in front of a castle thing and got jumped by one of the shade things that we saw Yaksha fight…thankfully our kicks and punches still seemed to hurt the bastard even though we’re human and we were able to take it down after a couple good hits…not that the fucker didn’t get in a few good licks of his own…don’t think my ribs have hurt this bad this long in awhile…being human is bullshit, I seriously miss my fucking wolf suit

Red and I made our way into the creepy, but also kinda pretty, castle thing to look around. There was an angel thing (or super of some kind) chained up, we unchained him and asked some questions. His name is Raziel…no relation to the Bible, and asked us to help him retake his city. Hopefully us doing this will mean these guys can help us get home, but regardless the shades are dicks so we’re gonna help out. Raziel did some crazy magic and pulled our souls out of the ribs and made them tangible…actually pulled a wolf out and pulled our assassin forms into weapons…even pulled our Geist out too. Not really sure how I feel about getting my souls pulled out, but at least now we’re more combat ready so I’m not gonna complain. Raziel lets us know where his buddies are being kept prisoner and Red and I start to make our way there.

Note to Gabe:
Whelp…in over my head just a bit…my bad. Pretty good chance I’m not coming back from this one, so want you to know that no one could ask for a better brother. You were and always will be the single most important person in my life. You kept me sane, protected me…made me whole. You were the reason I knew how good family could be. I love you.
Ashes to ashes.Note to Conor:
You know I can’t do this shit very well, but I may not come back so I’ll try.
I get that whatever happened during the 37 year thing changed everything and I don’t know what went down, but I’m sorry for whatever pain it caused you. You’re blood, and I’d never intentionally hurt you. I know I fucked pretty much everything up, but I was pretty fucked up at the time. Not an excuse, just want you to know that it had nothing to do with you, you were great…I was just messed up in the head and heart for awhile after high school. I get that I missed my chance and I’m not gonna hold it against you…it’s not gonna be weird, and we don’t have to talk about it…but you deserve to know. Anyone would be lucky to have you, I was lucky to have you…I was just too messed up to realize at the time that I loved you, still do. Sorry for making shit so difficult. Note to Trystan:
If I don’t make it back I wanted to thank you, you were a rock when I needed one.
I’m thankful we found you, thankful you’re pack. I haven’t felt safe with many people in my life, but I’ve felt safe with you…felt secure, accepted, cared for. I haven’t known you very long, but I know enough to know I love you.

I’m fucking tired just thinking about how long our to do list is. We have got to get better at delegating to our packmates, Sherriff, Watch, Masters of Elysium, everyone. We have not been very good at trusting tasks to anyone but ourselves. …I’m guilty of this more than anyone.

At least the Prince of Flint has been taken care of, we were able to save five of the kids she was entertaining herself with. Well… they are alive anyway though they are going to require a lifetime of therapy if not institutionalization. That bitch. She needed eliminating, but it won’t be good if we make a habit of restructuring cities willy-nilly, we have enough god damned enemies as it is.

Can’t forget to go back in three days and announce that we’re claiming the city in it’s prince’s absence, before that we need to find someone to serve as Seneschal on the Prince’s behalf.

In 2 weeks, Coliseum/City Grand Opening (need to send out official invites to other courts immediately, Gabe acquiring human security)

Deal with prisoners in Coliseum basement

Get message to the Ancient, Vovan. Apologize for our Prince trying to eat him… promise that he won’t try to do it again. Fucking awkward.

Touch base with Conor, how dd it go with local mages? Will they participate w/ city? Or at least leave us to our devices? Any viable options for Council?

Find and deal with Dupont, dear ol’ dad, and possibly Purity (must find a way to contend with their “viral” blood)

On a personal note, I would like to find some time in there to actually spend time with Ben. Lately it seems like all we’ve been doing is throwing ourselves in front of bullets for each other, both literally and figuratively, and that has got to stop if this… whatever we are doing is going to work. No matter what he’s my family and I value him too highly to allow him to sacrifice himself any more than he already has, damn it.

We finished talking about how we wanted to take down the Prince and decided the best hit would be to coordinate the attack on the scourge and the Hound at the same time we hit the Prince. Deciding we’d leave an hour until dawn for the fight. Gabe headed up the attack on the scourge and the Hound while Red, Monty, Harrison and I went after the prince. Sidenote.. I actually kinda like the brothers and really hope it works out having them in Detroit…they’d be good security either in the colosseum or in the club. They’d even be good in the Watch. Hell, even if they don’t want any part of that and just want to reside there I’d be cool with that. The brothers are the type of people that keep me sane…its a shame there’s not really any room in the pack.

With how at home I feel in the wolf suit I can’t help but wonder if my soul in this life or dimension or what the hell ever is actually the wolf and the others are souls from other planes. Wonder if Red feels that way too? Wonder if she’s got a suit she just feels more in touch with and that’s because her soul from this dimension was supposed to be a super of some particular kind. Also kinda wonder if Noah hadn’t fucked with stuff if I wouldn’t have turned wolf anyway…course that would mean that Trystan and I couldn’t be together since apparently that’s a taboo…which is fucking stupid, but whatever. I mean, why the hell couldn’t two Weres mate anyway? If anything it makes more sense than a Were mating with say a changeling or some shit.

Anyway, fight went down and everything went as smooth as I guess it could. We kinda talked about the Prince having a kid with her, but we weren’t really prepared for her having 7, FUCKINGSEVEN, kids with her when we got there. I mean goddamn this bitch. We still had to go through with the plan and two of the kids got caught in the crossfire. Red plugged one and I …. well I ripped one in half with my claws…now I kinda regret focusing myself more to learn and remember during the death rage…cause that’s sure as fuck something that’s gonna stick with me. Harrison and Monty proved they were a good team to have in a fight and after putting in a couple licks on the Prince they grappled her which made it much easier for Red and I to fuck her up. Bitch knew jugernaught’s gate which made it a battle of blood…thankfully in my Were suit as long as I’m death raging I can pretty much last all night…only problem…can’t exactly take it down a notch. Thankfully Harrison was aware of the situation and got me away from the kids before I could hurt any of them on purpose…he kept me busy, brawling in the empty streets until the rage wore off…and we were both tired as fuck after, but he did a hell of a job keeping up with me. Also nice to know that even though Harrison’s been a wolf a hell of a lot longer than me I had him at a stalemate…and that was only because I wasn’t trying to kill him since he’s pack. Anyway, I’m glad the boys were there.

Red was able to get the five kids outta the building even though it was on fire…she definitely got burned the fuck up while saving them, mad props to her for that…certainly makes me feel less shitty about the whole thing since she was able to save 5 of the kids. Gabe and the other assassins were able to kill the Hound and all but 3 of the scourge…not bad…not bad at all. Red and I also made sure to be in our “gentlemen” forms so no one would recognize us. We all left the city and plan to come back in 3 days to claim Flint. We texted the assassins that we’d meet back up with them at their hideout as soon as we could.

Back at Detroit we quickly briefed a few of the pack that was around on what happened and visited the techy for the Corporation, Vincent, about the city rules app and hosting the city server at the corporation. He’s convinced it will be more secure than the Prince’s place so Red and I were all up for it. Guess the server at the Prince’s place will just be to throw people off…a dummy server.

On our way out we chatted with Evelyn, fuck I can’t even remember what about now, I just know that my wolf suit is jealous as fuck. Evelyn mentioned she needed to see Trystan, and seemed like she urgently needed him…needless to say that got my wolf perked up, pissed off and on jealous in an instant…I seriously need to make sure I spend less time in this suit….unless I’m gonna do the Alpha thing the wolf suit is not the most comfortable…it’s really hard to be calm or chill or laid back and not want to mark all over my territory…which honestly it now totally makes sense about Misha’s attitude issues…I wasn’t giving her near enough credit for how hard she ropes that shit in. Evelyn could tell I was instantly wound up over her seeing Trystan and she invited me to tag along…if I’d been a better person I would have said that I trusted her and left her to it, but nope, I tagged along. Turns out Trystan was giving Evelyn the last thing he had of his brother’s because it was a keystone….and the fact that Evelyn would take it….well that pissed me off even more, but Trystan is always about taking care of the pack and so I couldn’t say anything because that would have been questioning Trystan and that wasn’t something I was willing to do. After Evelyn left Red, Trystan and I had a quick drink before we had to take off to go see the assassins again. Unfortunately we’re on a time table, but being in the wolf suit makes me itchy and watching Trystan walk away without following like a bitch in heat was damn near impossible….and now I need to fight, so getting outta the wolf suit and back into the assassin suit was definitely needed.

Called Lucy on the way to the Assassins place…

Red, Gabe and I headed back to the assassins and spent some time with them. I used some of my assassin abilities to drill into them and find out more about what makes them tick as people…and honestly I think we can win them over. They’re using the god machine because of the info it can provide not because they have faith. I think we can convince them they should be loyal to us and still use the god machine for intel. That way they can play the best of both worlds and we won’t have to hurt any of them…which, after getting to know them I seriously don’t want to do…even for the Corporation. If this goes south, I’m going to ask them to just walk away…pick a state on a coast, east or west, and just stay outta Michigan…cause I seriously don’t want to have to hurt people I call friends.

after talking with Gabe we realized we’re probably gonna have to let the Assassins go through at least the scouting work on their current orders…Gabe says they’re going to get really pissed/bent up if they don’t, and that’s the last thing we need…more pissed off people in our group. So Red and I went back to the church and told them we were leading their scouting mission to determine if it was legit or “if their angel had bad information because it was haywire”…thankfully they believed us

we chatted with the Assassins and decided staking out a locale near the area of their target was too obvious and we’d have to have a reason to be so close to the building where the vamp is at…I figure a local performance would work fine and be some good cover so I go and find a violin street performer…I can see right away this guy’s a changeling and honestly …kinda perfect, we can start pushing the Assassin’s boundaries right now and I might get another bad ass ghoul, or at least an act for the club…also doesn’t hurt that he is very nice to look at. Surprisingly the Assassins take it well and decide it’s the perfect cover, they don’t seem too put off around the Changeling and aren’t hostel towards me for doing it, which is good…I was prepped to take the blame/feign stupidity if they went postal, but their first little push into multi-super relations went well

we did our little recon work and turns out the target is the Prince of a city called Flint, second largest city in Michigan…we’re close enough to hear the Sheriff ask the Prince’s personal bouncers about the Seneschal’s murder…and as soon as he describes it, well…regardless of if this Prince is the Assassin’s target or not she’s on our list now because our Prince just tagged her first in command and let’s be real, that’s pretty much a to-do list from Prince Scary…so bad vamp or not she’s getting crossed off, on the up side, she does actually appear to be a total and complete fucking bitch so at least I’m not going to feel bad about offing her

after the Sheriff Hottie left, the bodyguard boys spotted Red and I, the others retreated into the coffee shop we were hold up at and the boys sat at our table for a chat, not much happened as neither set of us was willing to tip our hand…they gave us their business card and went about their merry little way….the Sheriff at that point became visible, he’s apparently a bad ass at obfuscate…good to know….and questioned us. Thankfully, the assassin suit I had on can dig up some pretty fucking useful intel and we were able to finagle our way into the Sheriff looking the other way about us going to murder the Flint Prince…fuck, we even got the guy to agree to be our Sheriff once we take the town over…I mean…come on, that’s pretty smooth…this might be one of my favorite things to wear….

the Sheriff gave us some pretty fucking great intel and now it’s looking like our chances of actually being able to get this done are up…thank fucking god, because honestly, the idea of jacking this up and pissing off the Invisible Prince actually kinda scares me…I’m still not sure what that man is capable of and honestly I don’t want to find out, thankfully Conor bridged that gap for us and now that terrifying shit sees us as family…which depending on how you see things could be worse or better

Red and I chatted with the Flint royal guard brothers, Monte and Harrison, and thanks to some advise from the Sheriff laid it on the line to the boys, showed them I was a wolf and told them what Detroit was about, told them about the rite to pack up with them and Harrison was 100% on board, which of course meant his brother was too, we’ve got our plan sorted out, gonna have Gabe and the other Assassins take care of the Nos hound and her feral bitches, while the brothers and Red and I take care of the Prince